ping on to the lowest terrace he saw the sea, very smooth,
and seeming much larger and broader than in the evening,
with a golden troop of sailing ships riding with the wind
against the sun. The reefs had all reappeared, and the
change of tide far out showed light green with delicate
silver crests. A large, unknown butterfly zigzagged
away over the water. Ambrosius sat down on his bench,
and with his uninjured and watchful eye absorbed the
morning.
Something was already moving between the reefs.
Somebody was bathing there. After he had gazed for a
while and forced his eye to further exertion, Ambrosius
The boy was naked, his body was golden-brown, and he
kept clambering up on the rocks and then disappearing
into the green of the water to an accompaniment of cries
and shouts of glee. And " Nanna," too, was enjoying
herself, with no sign of Feuerbadi's repose. Despite
the fact that she wore a bathing costume, she already
seemed strangely familiar to Ambrosius to-day. She had
picked out the highest rock, her rock, and was using it
as her diving board, diving with outstretched body and
perfect action. Ambrosius, after he had watched for a
time, was infected with die pleasure of bathing and
swimming, and he began to smile. Although a very cool
breeze was blowing from the sea, he felt hot and was
seized with an overwhelming desire to join the active
figures in the surf. He stood up, and was on the point of
going indoors to fetch his bathing things when he noticed
that the two people down below were leaving the water:
they ran over the rocks to the shore, their skins gleaming
wet, shedding drops in the sunlight from every limb. On
the beach their progress became a race, and finally they
disappeared laughing into the cabins. Ambrosius sat
down again and waited. The wish to see the woman